Students

COMP2160 – Game Development

2024 – Session 2, In person-scheduled-weekday, North Ryde

General Information

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Unit convenor and teaching staff Unit convenor and teaching staff Convenor/Lecturer
Cameron Edmond
cameron.edmond@mq.edu.au
By appointment only
Lecturer
Malcolm Ryan
malcolm.ryan@mq.edu.au
By appointment only
Practical Demonstrator
Kayson Whitehouse
kayson.whitehouse@mq.edu.au
Marker
Sandra Trinh
sandra.trinh@mq.edu.au
Credit points Credit points
10
Prerequisites Prerequisites
(COMP1150 or COMP111 or MMCC1011 or MAS111) and (COMP1010 or COMP125)
Corequisites Corequisites
Co-badged status Co-badged status
Unit description Unit description
This unit covers the production processes involved in the development of videogames. Students will learn how to apply software engineering principles to develop a game in a 3D game engine, focusing on specific programming problems that arise in the context of game development. Practical exercises emphasise agile team-based production process for project management.

Important Academic Dates

Information about important academic dates including deadlines for withdrawing from units are available at https://www.mq.edu.au/study/calendar-of-dates

Learning Outcomes

On successful completion of this unit, you will be able to:

  • ULO1: Identify, articulate and adapt the key methodologies, theories and practices involved in game development.
  • ULO2: Demonstrate knowledge of project management within the context of game development.
  • ULO3: Apply software engineering principles to develop a game in a 3D game engine.
  • ULO4: Apply good programming practices in the context of game development.
  • ULO5: Identify and reflect upon the ethical issues that arise in the development of games.

General Assessment Information

Requirements To Pass This Unit

To pass this unit, you must:

  • Achieve a total mark equal to or greater than 50

In order to achieve this criteria, it is recommended that students attempt all assessment tasks including Game Development Task 1, Game Development Task 2, the Ethics Essay, all Weekly Quizzes, and all Weekly practical exercises.

Late Assessment Submission Penalty

Unless a Special Consideration request has been submitted and approved, a 5% penalty (of the total possible mark of the task) will be applied for each day a written report or presentation assessment is not submitted, up until the 7th day (including weekends). After the 7th day, a grade of ‘0’ will be awarded even if the assessment is submitted. The submission time for all uploaded assessments is 11:55 pm. A 1-hour grace period will be provided to students who experience a technical concern. For any late submission of time-sensitive tasks, such as scheduled tests/exams, performance assessments/presentations, and/or scheduled practical assessments/labs, please apply for Special Consideration.

Special Consideration

The Special Consideration Policy aims to support students who have been impacted by short-term circumstances or events that are serious, unavoidable and significantly disruptive, and which may affect their performance in assessment. If you experience circumstances or events that affect your ability to complete the assessments in this unit on time, please inform the convenor and submit a Special Consideration request through ask.mq.edu.au.

Assessment Tasks

Name Weighting Hurdle Due
Weekly Quizzes 10% No Weekly
Game Development Task 1 25% No Week 6: Sunday 1st September 11:55pm
User experience research activity 5% No Week 15: Sunday 17th November 11:55pm
Ethics Essay 20% No Mid-Session Break: Sunday 29th September 11:55pm
Weekly practical exercises 10% No Weekly
Game Development Task 2 30% No Week 13: Sunday 3rd November 11:55pm

Weekly Quizzes

Assessment Type 1: Quiz/Test
Indicative Time on Task 2: 5 hours
Due: Weekly
Weighting: 10%

 

Weekly quizzes based on lecture material.

 
On successful completion you will be able to:
  • Identify, articulate and adapt the key methodologies, theories and practices involved in game development.
  • Demonstrate knowledge of project management within the context of game development.
  • Apply software engineering principles to develop a game in a 3D game engine.
  • Apply good programming practices in the context of game development.
  • Identify and reflect upon the ethical issues that arise in the development of games.

Game Development Task 1

Assessment Type 1: Programming Task
Indicative Time on Task 2: 20 hours
Due: Week 6: Sunday 1st September 11:55pm
Weighting: 25%

 

You will develop a videogame to meet a specified design, and report on the software architecture employed and the performance of the game in terms of time and memory usage.

 
On successful completion you will be able to:
  • Identify, articulate and adapt the key methodologies, theories and practices involved in game development.
  • Apply software engineering principles to develop a game in a 3D game engine.
  • Apply good programming practices in the context of game development.

User experience research activity

Assessment Type 1: Reflective Writing
Indicative Time on Task 2: 2 hours
Due: Week 15: Sunday 17th November 11:55pm
Weighting: 5%

 

You will take part in a user testing experience for another game or research project, and write a short reflection on the experience.

 
On successful completion you will be able to:
  • Identify, articulate and adapt the key methodologies, theories and practices involved in game development.

Ethics Essay

Assessment Type 1: Essay
Indicative Time on Task 2: 20 hours
Due: Mid-Session Break: Sunday 29th September 11:55pm
Weighting: 20%

 

A short essay exploring one of the key ethical issues that arise in game development practice.

 
On successful completion you will be able to:
  • Identify and reflect upon the ethical issues that arise in the development of games.

Weekly practical exercises

Assessment Type 1: Practice-based task
Indicative Time on Task 2: 0 hours
Due: Weekly
Weighting: 10%

 

Weekly game programming exercises

 
On successful completion you will be able to:
  • Identify, articulate and adapt the key methodologies, theories and practices involved in game development.
  • Apply software engineering principles to develop a game in a 3D game engine.
  • Apply good programming practices in the context of game development.

Game Development Task 2

Assessment Type 1: Programming Task
Indicative Time on Task 2: 25 hours
Due: Week 13: Sunday 3rd November 11:55pm
Weighting: 30%

 

You will work in groups to develop a videogame to meet a specified design. Emphasis will be placed on good project management following an agile methodology. You will report of the software architecture employed in the game, and the QA testing you performed.

 
On successful completion you will be able to:
  • Identify, articulate and adapt the key methodologies, theories and practices involved in game development.
  • Demonstrate knowledge of project management within the context of game development.
  • Apply software engineering principles to develop a game in a 3D game engine.
  • Apply good programming practices in the context of game development.

1 If you need help with your assignment, please contact:

  • the academic teaching staff in your unit for guidance in understanding or completing this type of assessment
  • the Writing Centre for academic skills support.

2 Indicative time-on-task is an estimate of the time required for completion of the assessment task and is subject to individual variation

Delivery and Resources

Software Used

This unit uses the Unity3D game engine, which is avaliable on lab PCs. The software can also be downloaded and used at home from https://unity.com/. See iLearn for the Unity version currently installed in the labs.

It is students' responsibility to ensure their device can run Unity before attempting their assignments on their home computers.

Assignments and practical tasks are distributed through Github Classroom. Although Github Desktop is used as an example Git client, students are able to use whatever tool they wish, but must understand technical support cannot be provided for all tools.

Students are expected to attempt practical tasks before coming to class. If students are unable to work on practicals and assignments on their own devices and require additional access to University computers, they can request special lab access. See iLearn for details.

Use of Generative AI

The use of Generative AI including LLMs and image generators is permitted in this unit where this use does not undermine the Learning Outcomes of the unit and specific assessment tasks. All use of Generative AI must be appropriately acknowledged, evidenced and referenced.

The particularities and affordances of Generative AI usage will vary between assessments. Please consult the assessment specifications of each task for details. Use of Generative AI that does not adhere to assessment-specific details may result in a breach of Academic Integrity.

For more information on the use of Generative AI in your studies, please see the FSE Gen AI module: https://ishare.mq.edu.au/prod/file/c6b0caa4-23dd-4372-b07d-5a03379fc3e8/1/FSE_GenAI-module.zip/content/index.html#/

Unit Schedule

This schedule is subject to change. Please see iLearn for the most up-to-date version of the schedule.

Week Lecture topics
1
  • Programming: Intro to C#
  • Programming: Event-based & Behaviour-based programming
  • Programming: 2D & 3D geometry: Vectors and Quaternions
2
  • Programming: Transformations
  • Programming: Input
  • Production: Ethical Game Dev Overview
3
  • Programming: Prefabs, Instantiation & Destruction
  • Programming: Finite state machines
  • Production: Sustainability
4
  • Programming & Production: Code Architecture
  • Programming: Trigger-based collisions, rigidbodies and raycasting
  • Production: Diversity and Inclusion
5
  • Programming: UI implementation
  • Programming: Scene Management Production: Accessibility
6
  • Testing: Quality Assurance
  • Testing: Game Analytics
  • Production: Cybersecurity & Data Privacy
7
  • Testing: Profiling
  • Production: IP, Ownership & Generative AI
8
  • Production: Version control for teams
9
  • Programming: Game Physics
  • Programming: Collision handling
10
  • Programming: Physics pt. 2
11
  • Programming: Cameras and visuals
  • Programming: Coroutines
12
  • Programming: Cameras pt. 2

Policies and Procedures

Macquarie University policies and procedures are accessible from Policy Central (https://policies.mq.edu.au). Students should be aware of the following policies in particular with regard to Learning and Teaching:

Students seeking more policy resources can visit Student Policies (https://students.mq.edu.au/support/study/policies). It is your one-stop-shop for the key policies you need to know about throughout your undergraduate student journey.

To find other policies relating to Teaching and Learning, visit Policy Central (https://policies.mq.edu.au) and use the search tool.

Student Code of Conduct

Macquarie University students have a responsibility to be familiar with the Student Code of Conduct: https://students.mq.edu.au/admin/other-resources/student-conduct

Results

Results published on platform other than eStudent, (eg. iLearn, Coursera etc.) or released directly by your Unit Convenor, are not confirmed as they are subject to final approval by the University. Once approved, final results will be sent to your student email address and will be made available in eStudent. For more information visit connect.mq.edu.au or if you are a Global MBA student contact globalmba.support@mq.edu.au

Academic Integrity

At Macquarie, we believe academic integrity – honesty, respect, trust, responsibility, fairness and courage – is at the core of learning, teaching and research. We recognise that meeting the expectations required to complete your assessments can be challenging. So, we offer you a range of resources and services to help you reach your potential, including free online writing and maths support, academic skills development and wellbeing consultations.

Student Support

Macquarie University provides a range of support services for students. For details, visit http://students.mq.edu.au/support/

The Writing Centre

The Writing Centre provides resources to develop your English language proficiency, academic writing, and communication skills.

The Library provides online and face to face support to help you find and use relevant information resources. 

Student Services and Support

Macquarie University offers a range of Student Support Services including:

Student Enquiries

Got a question? Ask us via the Service Connect Portal, or contact Service Connect.

IT Help

For help with University computer systems and technology, visit http://www.mq.edu.au/about_us/offices_and_units/information_technology/help/. 

When using the University's IT, you must adhere to the Acceptable Use of IT Resources Policy. The policy applies to all who connect to the MQ network including students.

Changes from Previous Offering

  • General updates and refinements to practical and lecture content.

Unit information based on version 2024.03 of the Handbook